MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A diplomat who visited the family of a Pakistani student who’s been hospitalized for three months said Thursday they were relieved by details of a deal that resolves his visa and insurance issues to ensure he can stay in the U.S. and get the long-term care he needs.
Muhammad Shahzaib Bajwa was enrolled in a fall semester exchange program at the University of Wisconsin-Superior and was riding in a fellow student’s car that struck a deer Nov. 13. He suffered severe facial injuries, cardiac arrest and brain damage. Bajwa remains in a coma in fair condition at Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth.
His family said last week that hospital officials were pressuring them to agree to his return to Pakistan because his visa was about to expire at the end of this month.
Pakistan’s consul general from Chicago, Faisal Niaz Tirmizi, drove to Duluth to meet with Bajwa’s family Wednesday night to tell them about the solution nailed down by Pakistani and U.S. diplomats and hospital officials.
“I wanted to meet them and when I told them the issue was resolved, they were visibly relieved,” Tirmizi told The Associated Press on Thursday, Bajwa’s 21st birthday.
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A February snowstorm began pushing into Minnesota Thursday, making roads slick and prompting schools to close.
Snow started falling in Minneapolis around midday and continued during the evening rush hour. The metro area could see up to a foot of snow by the time the storm passes Friday morning, National Weather Service meteorologist Shawn DeVinny said.
“It’s going to be snowing most of the night and not winding down till early tomorrow morning,” DeVinny said Thursday night.
In Mankato, 5 inches of snow had fallen before 6 p.m. A trained spotter measured 5.5 inches of snow in Waconia, and more than 4 inches of snow had fallen in Monticello.
Schools in southern Minnesota closed Thursday, including Rochester, Winona and Faribault as heavy snow and strong winds moved into the region. Minneapolis Public Schools canceled all after-school and evening activities and meetings because of the weather. Minnesota State, Mankato canceled evening classes.
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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - A House education committee on Thursday weighed a task force recommendation to eliminate a basic skills test for prospective K-12 teachers, with some committee members saying they are eager to pass legislation doing away with the tests.
Rep. Jason Isaacson, DFL-Shoreview, was among those who favor spiking the test in the legislative session that starts Tuesday. Critics have said the tests don’t effectively predict teacher performance, are culturally biased and don’t make sense for some disciplines such as art and physical education.
“There’s a preponderance of overwhelming evidence that the test is doing more harm than good,” Isaacson said.
Rep. Carlos Mariani, DFL-St. Paul, said the test is keeping too many teachers from becoming permanently classroom-eligible in Minnesota.
“The immediacy of the situation is that we have almost 3,000 teacher candidates who want to teach, but can’t because they’ve failed the test,” Mariani, who chairs the House Committee on K-12 Education Policy, said in an interview before the hearing.
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MANKATO, Minn. (AP) - Minnesota State, Mankato has canceled its Thursday evening classes because of a winter storm.
All classes that begin at 6 p.m. or later are canceled.
The university remains open, and staff should plan to report to work as scheduled.
The Mankato area is under a blizzard warning for the rest of Thursday evening. Forecasters say Mankato could get up to a foot of snow. Winds are expected to gust up to 45 mph.
MSU has an enrollment of more than 15,000 students.
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